Visual Studio 2015 vs 2012

Question

• Can a static library compiled in VS 2015 can be used in VS 2012? The C compiler of VS 2012 is very old. The most common problem I encounter is the variable declaration location. A variable has to be declared in the beginning of its scope in VS 2012.

• If there is such a compatibility then I just need to fix compilation errors in header files and call the functions from the library. Is that right?

Answer 1

In general, static libraries are not compatible between different versions of Visual Studio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_C%2B%2B#Compatibility

The Visual C++ compiler ABI have historically changed between major compiler releases. This is especially the case for STL containers, where container sizes have varied a lot between compiler releases. Microsoft therefore recommends against using C++ interfaces at module boundaries when one wants to enable client code compiled using a different compiler version. Instead of C++, Microsoft recommends using C or COM interfaces, which are designed to have a stable ABI between compiler releases.

I have not specifically tried doing VS2015 -> VS2012, but going the other way definitely has some issues (VS2012/VS2013 -> VS2015). However, in VS2015, there are undocumented libraries (legacy_stdio_definitions.lib and legacy_stdio_wide_specifiers.lib) which attempt to mitigate some specific problems, but they aren't a catch-all for compatibility.

The best solution is to compile the static library with the version of Visual Studio you intend to consume it in.